1 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with youand return to the Lord.Say to him:‘Forgive all our sinsand receive us graciously,that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us;we will not mount war-horses.We will never again say “Our gods”to what our own hands have made,for in you the fatherless find compassion.’
4 ‘I will heal their waywardnessand love them freely,for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;he will blossom like a lily.Like a cedar of Lebanonhe will send down his roots;
6 his young shoots will grow.His splendour will be like an olive tree,his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.